Deprofessionalization or Postprofessionalization? Reflections on the State of Social Work as a Profession

Recent literature considering the state of the social work profession has primarily focused on concerns about deprofessionalization. This article provides an overview of the literature on professionalization and professional decline in order to situate the social work profession within a broader context. The article then describes the emergence of a new role for social workers in Canada that crosses the boundaries between clinical, managerial, and legal aspects of client care in the area of mental health forensics. It is argued that the future of social work's professionalization project around the world may not be as bleak as has been portrayed in the literature.